Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Macon Telegraph is featuring the farm in either this Sunday or next Sunday's issue, so check your local newstand. Also, Julia Metzker at Georgia College is featuring us on her facebook page, so be sure to look her up. Speaking of facebook, the Fall Line Farmers' Market has started a page as well: www.facebook.com/FallLineFarmersMarket.

Time for the annual gathering to celebrate planting, growing, blooming, and blossoming! Come and camp with us April 7th and 8th and take time out to reconnect with folks you love but haven't seen for awhile. I also would love to share the beautiful spring forest with you all as things are rapidly taking off-so many trees are already budding out, and we can almost watch the garden grow with all of the sun and rain. You can come on Friday if you need and set up camp.

Bring everything you would need to primitive camp-except water-we have lots of that; bring bedding, tent, headlamp, snacks, beverages, goodies-whatever will make you comfortable and happy-and then bring musical instruments for Saturday night and a prepared dish to share for the potluck. Everybody has been so good about preparing a delicious contribution to feed everyone on Saturday night, and that is a big help since I am working with volunteers all day on Saturday in the garden. Those who want to help--during the day on Saturday is a traditional work day for any one who wants to get his or her hands in the soil and plant some seeds.

Please call or email me and let me know if you are coming. That really, really helps me plan ahead. And please let me know what you are bringing for the potluck. That also really, really, truly helps decide what we need for the gathering.

I would love for all of you to come and see what the amazing volunteers have done. You will be blown away by the cabin at the creek.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Here's Walter Reeve's most recent column from the AJC. There's lots more here.

Gardening - 4:54 p.m. Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Q: I'm a first-time asparagus planter and just received my plants in the mail. The directions say to open up a trench in which to plant them. Do I bury the connected part of the roots or should I bury each individual root, leaving the middle exposed? -- Darren Kubiak, Lawrenceville

A: Asparagus is a perennial plant, so proper planting is important. I call the center part of asparagus roots the "crown" and the thick fingers spreading from it the "roots." It's best to bury the crown relatively shallow, just an inch or so, but the roots can be 2 to 4 inches deep. I typically dig an area 6 inches deep and wide enough to contain the root system when spread out. I put a clod of clay under the crown to support it a couple of inches higher than the roots around it.

Q: I have a well established lawn of centipede grass. Which comes first, aeration or dethatching? -- Earl Spell, Sharpsburg

A: Generally speaking, you don't need to remove thatch if you aerate a lawn every year or so. The aerator brings up plugs of dirt that help to speedily decompose a layer of thatch. You also can minimize thatch formation by mowing regularly, only removing a third of the height at each mowing.

Q: We have moved to northeast Georgia from south Florida. Knowing I need to protect my staghorn fern from winter freezes, can I have any possibility of success with it during the growing season? -- Roy Riggs, Dahlonega

A: If you have a good place to keep it indoors in winter, you can bring it in and out each year, as you’d do with any tropical plant. If your fern grows too large to carry, you can pull off newly emerged fern sprouts, mount them on a piece of wood and give to your new Lumpkin County neighbors.

Q: Do you know a source for mason bees in Georgia? I have a friend on the West Coast who swears by them for increased crops. -- A. G. Borud, email

A: Mason bees are a terrific substitute for honeybees when you have a fruit or vegetable garden. Unlike honeybees, they are solitary and make nests in hollow stems or tubes. No one sells them locally, to my knowledge. Your best bet is to buy them online. They will arrive in paper tubes containing several cocoons. The best housing is translucent paper tubes inserted in a short piece of four inch diameter plastic pipe. Mount the pipe to your garage or shed wall, under the overhang. Mason bees are active in spring and make cocoons for their larvae to hibernate in during summer and winter. You can remove the tubes in summer to see how many cocoons you have and to inspect for predators and parasites. Good sources for bees and their housing include Crown Bees (www.crownbees.com) and Knox Cellars (www.knoxcellars.com).

Q: I am looking for a pollinator for tea viburnum. Is there another viburnum that would suit its needs? -- Phil Greenawalt, email

A: Tea viburnum has perfect flowers (male and female parts in the same bloom) but it won't accept its own pollen. In order to get the bounteous berries for which it is famous, you need to have nearby a tea viburnum that came from different parents. Call several local nurseries and ask where they get their tea viburnum shrubs. If they come from different wholesale growers, it's likely that you'll get plants with different genetic parentage. These will pollinate each other nicely.

Listen to Walter Reeves Saturday mornings on AM 750 and 95.5 FM News-Talk WSB. Visit his website, www.walterreeves.com, or join his Facebook Fan Page at xrl.us/wrfacebook for more garden tips.